Lifter



(No Model.)

J. J. LEE. LETER.

No. 600,432. Patented Mar. 8,1898.

NiTn STATES PATENT FFICE.

JOHN J. LEE, OF DARW'IN, OHIO.

LIFTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 600,432, dated March 8, 1898. Application tiled June 2, 1897. Serial No. 839,152. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom, it may concern:

Beit known that I, JOHN J. LEE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Darwin, in the county of Meigs and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvelnents in Lifters; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

In most stores high shelving leads to the use of some kind of step-ladder, and this implies inconvenience and loss of time.

The object of this invention is to provide an implement that shall conveniently serve for taking down and replacing upon the shelves boxes or packages that could not ordinarily be reached from the floor.

In the drawings, Figure l shows the device in perspective, part of the handle or stad being broken out to shorten the figure. shows that side of the implement opposite the principal one seen in Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a section at 3 3, Fig. 2.

The body of the implement consists of a light staff A, having a broad flat head A', all preferably of wood. The upper end of this head meets centrally and perpendicularly a thin Ushaped i'lat bar or plate I5 and is rig idly fixed to the sam e. Upon one face of the staff and head slides in suitable guides O a rod D, having its upper end formed into a loop D', extending above and bending at right angles away from the head, so that the end portion D2 lies in a plane parallel to that of the bar or plate B. Below the loop, partly within a recess in the face of the body of the implement, the rod is inclosed in a long open coil D'L of light spring-wire, the coil normally pressing upward upon the loop and reacting upon a support E. The rod terminates a short distance above the lower end of the stane in a hook D3, adapted to be engaged and drawn down with one linger of the hand that may grasp the staff just below the hook. Now the thin ends of the bar B being pushed beneath any box or package the rod is drawn down until the box is clamped between the bar B below and the loop part D2 above, and is then removed from the shelf and lowered while so held. Upon the release of the hook the spring at once pushes the loop upward to Fig. 2

its normal position. It is to be observed that, if necessary, the staff may be grasped above the hook by the other hand, and that in so doing the rod may be pressed against it rmly enough to still hold the box even when the hook is released.

It is often desired to handle tall narrow packages not well adapted to be held in the clamps just described, and hence upon the opposite face of the staif and head there are provided laterally-moving jaws F for grasping such objects as bottles, j acketed or otherwise. These jaws are two bars centrally pivoted to the head at F and having their free ends bent from the head at right angles at some distance above the plate B. To the lower ends of the bars, respectively, are pivoted links G, which are themselves pivoted together at II and provided with an eye H, in which slides a headed rod I. The rod I is connected to an arm J, extending from the rod D through the staff in a long slot K. Now if the rod D is drawn downward the rod I moves with it. lVhen the head of the rod meets the eye H', further movement forcibly closes the jaws. Obviously, then, if the thinedged loop of the bar B be pushed beneath a bottle or the like and if the rod D be drawn downward the bottle will be grasped laterally and at the same time supported below-that is, it will be so held that it may be readily and safely removed from the shelf and lowered. The jaws may advantageously converge slightly to hold the bottle with more absolute security.

It is evident that articles may be placed in either clamp and returned to the shelves. If when the bar or plate B is withdrawn from beneath the article the latter is left a little in front of the proper position, it may be pushed back with the side of the head B.

That I claim is* l. The combination with the staif having the integral flat head projecting laterally be yond all other parts of the device, of the central iixed bar or plate projecting perpendicularly from one broad face of the head, the rod sliding longitudinally in guides upon the staff and having at its lower end the hook and at its upper end the loop with branches held parallel to the staff in guides and with its upper portion bent above the bar or plate IOO Y ...as

into a plane parallel to the same, and the .spring resisting downward sliding of the rod.

2. The combination with a staff and a thin bar orv plate projecting from its upper end at right angles, of crossed bars centrally pivoted to the staff, projecting above said upper end and bent outward to form jaws parallel to said bar or plate, a rod sliding in suitable guides on said staff, and connections whereby downward sliding of said rod swings said bars upon their pivot and causes the mutual approach of said jaws.

3. The combination with the sta slotted through at the proper point, of the bar or plate Xed to the upper end of the staff and projecting upon both sides thereof, the rod sliding in suitable guides upon the staff, having its upper end bent outward parallel to said bar or plate, and also having an arm ex-4 

